The following thesis evaluates the study of nurses and physicians on how they divide their work responsibilities and also makes recommendations for new ways to structurally rearrange work tasks. This thesis also suggests the way to implement new functions or professions, which are necessary to divide the line between the nurse and physician domain. The above topics are currently being discussed and are relevant to the issues facing the Dutch health care system. The theoretical framework utilized is Abbott’s vision (1988) of the System of Professions: an Essay on the Division of Expert Labour which contains a mix of comparative historical analyses and current evaluation. The theory is assembled within an analytical model which looks at professions from the viewpoint of their jurisdictions, the tasks they do, the expert knowledge needed for those tasks, and how competitive forces internally and externally work to change both the jurisdictions and their tasks. Abbott substantiates his paradigm based on narratives, a research approach that reviews the historical context and the contingencies. Throughout this underlying study the two narratives are described. The first narrative is a historical analysis of the relation between physicians and nurses (chapter 3), and the second deals directly with the way the nurse practitioner (NP) position was implemented in the Netherlands, as a nurse (RN) with traditional medical tasks.